


Lost and Found

by MyMisguidedFairytale



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Aftermath of Violence, Animal Death, Canon Compliant, Dark Continent Arc, Exploration, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Short & Sweet, Team Dynamics, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 00:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19073893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyMisguidedFairytale/pseuds/MyMisguidedFairytale
Summary: It had chased them, something larger than a house, with four legs covered in dark purple fur and at least one row of sharp, gleaming teeth.





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> _Lost and Found_ was originally written and published on July 09, 2015 on [tumblr](https://cheadle-yorkshire.tumblr.com/post/123593169552/fanfiction-hunter-x-hunter-lost-and-found).
> 
> Everything below is preserved as it was originally posted:
> 
> **Title** : Lost and Found  
>  **Word Count** : 1891 words  
>  **Pairing** : None  
>  **Summary** : It had chased them, something larger than a house, with four legs covered in dark purple fur and at least one row of sharp, gleaming teeth.  
>  **A/N** : Takes place during Netero, Linnet, and Zzigg’s voyage to the Dark Continent, so the story contains spoilers for these characters and the dark continent arc. I hope you enjoy!

_**Lost and Found** _

The body of the animal falls with a roar and a final, heavy _thud_.

“The path-!” It’s Zzigg, panting heavily, his hands on his knees. The air is thick with the smell of blood. “We can’t lose the path!”

It had chased them, something larger than a house, with four legs covered in dark purple fur and at least one row of sharp, gleaming teeth. He hadn’t looked any closer to confirm the presence of more. They’d seen some kind of reptile with six rows of teeth the day before. Linnet had insisted on cooking it, and Zzigg had swallowed down a piece at her urging. It was tough, but she’d seasoned it well.

Linnet swivels, looking in every direction. “I think we’ve already lost it.”

Aizack Netero appears from around the animal’s body, and dusts off his hands. “Nice hit, Zzigg.”

“Don’t mention it.” He shoves his hands back in his pockets, and backs away from the body. “We shouldn’t stay here long. The noise and the smell will draw some pretty unwelcome visitors.”

“The sun was on our left when we got run off the path,” Netero says. A pause, while he scratches the back of his head. “I think.”

“Great.” With the foliage all around them, it is difficult to even see where the sun is. “It’s more open over there. We can walk and see if we can get our bearings.”

They depart, keeping a steady, quick pace; they refrain from using _Nen_ to enhance their speed, to conserve their strength. Every time they’re forced to deal with a new threat, it takes a little bit more out of them.

The trees protrude from the otherwise perfectly even ground, trunks like arms and wrists and leaves like outstretched fingers. Zzigg has to crane his neck up to even see the tops of them, in neat little gathers against the cloudless blue sky. It’s unnerving, both for its innate perfection—everything is smooth and neat and free of visible flaws—and for the sheer scale of it. Zzigg has a feeling that the things that typically traverse this forest would not call these trees tall. The creature they’d killed wasn’t the biggest thing they’d seen by far, but it was the biggest they had fought.

Somewhere, far off in the distance, something screams, and it turns Zzigg’s blood to ice. Whatever it is isn’t far enough away for his liking.

“The sun!” Linnet points up, and they can see it, hovering straight ahead through a clearing in the leaves. “So we need to go that way.” She points off to the right and leads the way.

They trust her judgment, falling into step without another word. After a few minutes of running, the terrain changes back to the lower foliage and thick undergrowth they’d dealt with while they fought the strange purple animal.

Linnet is a good tracker, Netero has the most impressive physical strength of anyone he’s ever met, and Zzigg, well, he’s good at killing things. They make a good team, even if it’s more out of necessity than any other factor.

Linnet comes to a sudden stop, and the others instinctively fan out in a triangle, their backs together.

“I heard something,” she says. Zzigg holds his breath, listening intently. After a moment, he can hear a rustling noise, coming from the bushes in front of them.

Zzigg unsheathes a knife at his hip. He bends his knees, getting ready to charge. The rustling sound draws closer, and closer, until the leaves part and out rolls a creature no bigger than his arm.

They stare at it. Purple fur, four legs, floppy ears. It looks up at them, its tongue lagging out of a mouth lined with tiny teeth.

Linnet is the first to speak. “It could be dangerous! Don’t let your guard down just because it’s small and fluffy!”

The animal lets out a whine and rolls over again. Zzigg’s eyes widen. “It’s…”

“The child of the animal we killed,” Netero finishes. “Perhaps that was why it attacked us in the first place, if we were drawing too close to its nest.”

“What do we do with it?” Zzigg kicks a stick towards it; the creature grabs it with its paws, and starts chewing on one end. An uncharacteristic wave of pity washes over him. “It’s not going to last two days out here on its own.”

“Hey.” Linnet props a hand on her hip. “We’ve lasted that long—”

“You killed the mother,” Netero tells Zzigg, turning away from the creature. “You should finish this one off, too.”

It rolls unsteadily to its feet, sticking its long nose in the air. Its nostrils flare, then it takes a few steps towards the trio. They tense, ready to act, but it only sniffs their legs before turning and staring off towards the bushes, sniffing some more.

“—Wait, don’t kill it just yet!” Linnet all but shouts, her hands grasping Zzigg’s wrist. He lowers the knife, shrugging off her hands and giving her a look.

“Yet?”

“I think it smells the others,” she says, her voice hushed. The creatures lets out another whine, then bounds over to Zzigg’s feet and looks up. “It seems to like you the best.”

“I smell the most like its mother.” He leans down and extends one hand, running it from the top of the creature’s head and down its back. It makes another happy whine, then bounds a few steps away. “We can use it to find the others. Let’s hope they’re still on the path.”

“Try it if you like.” Netero sounds more amused than wary, but he keeps his distance and never looks away from the creature. “Just as long as you don’t get attached.”

Linnet pulls a bag from her shoulder and roots through it. “I stole a hat from Thompson the other day. It can sniff that.”

She holds out the hat, letting it catch the scent. The creature looks up, taking a few wobbly steps to the side, then looks back. “You got the scent? Then let’s go!”

The secret to tracking with animals, Linnet explains as they run, is to give them enough of a lead to encourage them and to keep your own scent from interfering with their progress, but run close enough beside them so they don’t forget they’re a part of a team.

She’s worried, Zzigg can tell, that the creature is hunting their associates instead of tracking them, that they’re inviting danger, that everyone they’re seeking may already be dead or worse. The creature is young, practically an infant, and while Zzigg will kill it without a second thought if it turns its teeth on them, he would prefer not to take such a life. And the longer they run, without any distractions, the more they can explore the insides of their minds, where every worry is manifested in ways far more sinister than what the dark continent can conjure up, when they should be preoccupied with exploring the land before them. 

“We could play shiritori to pass the time,” Zzigg suggests.

“Be serious!” But there is a hint of a laugh in Linnet’s voice, and that is enough to tell him that although there are any number of things worthy of his concern, he does not have to worry about Linnet.

They push through some close branches, and beyond a gentle dip in the ground is the path, extending in a straight line of crimped grass in either direction. Zzigg bends to pat the creature’s head.

“Good boy.” Its tongue lolls out, and it gives him a happy, canine smile.

“Don’t tell me you’ve named it.” This time, Netero takes the lead down the path, pointing out any visible footprints from the other group. There are not as many as he hoped to see.

“Not yet,” Zzigg says. “Any suggestions?”

At his side, the creature walking between them, Linnet perks up. “How about Lunch?”

Zzigg gives her a look; she concedes with a sigh. “You’re right, it does look more like a Dinner.”

“Just as long as you don’t give it a stereotypical name,” Netero joins in, “like Spot, or Rover, or Mike.”

“You two missed your calling. Should’ve been comedians.” Beside him, the creatures gives an impatient yip.

“You don’t have any ideas, do you?” She looks between Zzigg and the creature, sporting nearly identical looks of indignity/offense, and her eyes soften. “It’s too small to eat, anyway. Not worth the effort.”

“I have ideas!” He winces at how defensive that sounds, and shoves his hands in his pockets again. “I’m not gonna give him a name if he’s just gonna die. So I’m gonna wait a while. If we all get through this alive, then I’ll give him a name.”

Ahead, they can hear sounds; the creature’s ears perk up, and Zzigg moves to restrain him, even as its stubby tail wags and it seems more curious than aggressive. Just at the brink of their field of vision, in a cluster of trees on the very edge of the path, sits a crowd of soldiers around a makeshift campsite. The number is small, but one by one as they notice the trio walking towards them they fall silent and stand.

“He’s a good luck charm,” Zzigg continues, his arms full of wriggly animal. “And I think we need all the luck we can get.”

When they are close enough to see the sweat on the soldiers’ foreheads and the unshed tears in their eyes, they all rush forward, clapping Netero on the shoulders and congratulating the three Hunters on their near-miraculous return. They give Zzigg a wide berth, but as the soldiers open up a space at the heart of their group for the trio, the creature in his arms shivers and looks up at him. When he smiles, it relaxes, and lets out a brief, happy howl.

_Later_ :

At the time of their boarding the vessel, the creature had come up to his knees, and was growing slowly if steadily. Then, in a matter of weeks it had somehow grown to epic, unbelievable proportions. Zzigg stands on the deck—really the only place that can contain it comfortably—holding a wooden pole nearly as tall as he is.

“Ready? Fetch!” He throws it with a considerable amount of strength, across the entire length of the deck, which shudders as the creature turns and dashes after it, leaping to catch it in its mouth. When it lands the boat shudders again, and Zzigg is nearly knocked down. The creature bounds back to him, and Zzigg holds out his hands.

“No, wait-! _Mike_!” The creature drops the stick at his feet and bowls him over with its paws, licking the side of his face before Zzigg rolls over. The creature moves with him, leaning the front half of its body to trap Zzigg beneath it. He swears, from somewhere up in the rigging, he can hear Linnet laughing.

“This trip,” Zzigg says, “was just barely worth it.”

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I’ve always been under the impression that Mike was a magical beast, so maybe he had an ancestor (or he’s just really long-lived) from the dark continent.
> 
> 2\. Thank you for reading! I Would appreciate and value your comments.


End file.
